The Einstein Prophecy

As war rages in 1944, young army lieutenant Lucas Athan recovers a sarcophagus excavated from an Egyptian tomb. Shipped to Princeton University for study, the box contains mysteries that only Lucas, aided by brilliant archaeologist Simone Rashid, can unlock. These mysteries may, in fact, defy - or fulfill - the dire prophecies of Albert Einstein himself.

Jim &#34;The Impatient&#34; says:"Easy Listening"

Publisher's Summary

Caroline Clifford’s bland life as a London tour guide flips upside down when her beloved uncle is brutally murdered at a Bulgarian archaeological site. While traveling to recover his remains, she meets a man who corresponded with her uncle. Jude Barrett is a biochemist on a mission: to rid the world of vampires….

At first, Caro is dismissive of Jude’s beliefs, but she can’t ignore the signs that are all around her: the human bite marks on her uncle, the men following her, the anguished cries after sundown. Strange anagrams on her uncle’s passport lead her and Jude to a cliff-top monastery in Greece, where a shattering revelation connects a relic Caro inherited from her parents to an age-old text on immortality - and an enigmatic prophecy that pits the forces of darkness and light in a showdown that could destroy them all....

What the Critics Say

“A fantastic read. Smart and sophisticated... A Da Vinci Code–esque adventure with a fresh take on vampirism and an emotional, sexy romance.” (Virna DePaul, author of Chosen by Blood)

"Bulgarian vampires and nonstop sex (not with the Bulgarian vampires), PLUS an illuminated lost manuscript, in a twisty tale of family mystery, murder, and corporate greed.” (Diana Gabaldon, New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series)

“A singe-your-fingers page-turner. Don’t miss this one.” (Shirley Hailstock, author of Some Like Them Rich)

not if it has as many tracks as this book. Everytime I have to turn the recording off I then have to spend 15-20 minutes trying to find my place. I paid for this, but never again. I will wait till my library gets the the cd's and listen that way.

Has Acquainted with the Night turned you off from other books in this genre?

"Ruddy hell!" Where to begin? Over heated, over florid, over wrought -- finally over! Filled with flat characters who wander around in a simmering stew of a one dimensional plot who don't seem to know if they're in an historical mystery, a bad Bond book with vamps, or a really over the top Victorian bodice ripper. The incongruity of the occasionally silly antiquated language sounds even worse because this monstrosity is set in the present day. I would have really hated it if it wasn't so shockingly absurd! (Which is not to say that it is, in any way, funny on purpose. It's not.)

Honestly, the lines said by the female lead, Carro (short for Caroline, which is in my opinion a much prettier name) are nothing short of ridiculous -- and her actions are worse. The male characters are given nothing to do but save her miserable behind, and they fail her miserably at every turn -- which would be ok if only she could manage to stop "spurting bile into her mouth" and save herself. I've never read a female character who is more pathetically co-dependent -- and I read a lot. The reader, Justine Eyre (who I love in Nalini Singh's books), is just awful in this one. Though whether it's her fault, or the fault of the author, I don't know. The weepy, whiny tone of Carro is so simpering and filled with self-loathing and self-blame that were she a real person, there is no way in "ruddy hell" she could attract a mate. Or a friend. She is a hot mess with a throbbing, overly emotional voice that sounds as if she's always on the verge of sobbing. She needs medication. Stat.

The author describes Carro as a Ph.D. candidate in history who quit school (for no explicable reason), to conduct sight-seeing tours, yet she seems completely out of her depth when it comes to history. This is kind of inconvenient since a lot of the plot revolves around a historical mystery. Why she's been written as an historian is anybody's guess, since she needs someone else to explain everything to her. She picks up a random hot guy with a hairy chest who sleeps with her once and then spends most of the book trying to get away from her (and I for one, don't blame him). She whines and weedles and begs him not to leave her, and all I could think was "have a little pride!" The book wastes a lot of time on her long inner dialogues (diatribes?) about how she doesn't deserve him. You could build a drinking game around the number of times she says she's sorry.

The bad guys are just as silly, but worse, there is a 2,000 year old good guy vamp who can't seem to do any of the things vamps, especially old vamps, are supposed to be able to do. No sense of smell, no speed, no strength -- nadda. Our Mary Sue is shot at not once but twice, with this vampire hero near-by, yet at neither time is he able to help. No explanation -- he's just back in the kitchen making a sandwich or something.

Pivotal plot points wherein bad guys could be easily eliminated or arrested are wasted or they end up dead by accident. Our hero, Jude, starts out with steel stakes in his pockets and somewhere along the way he loses them or forgets to get some, or whatever, and ends up stopping bullets with his body. How do you go from being a vampire hunter to being the kind of guy who goes to a vampire fight without a clue?

And yet, I listed to this over-weening pile of I don't know what until the end. For that reason, and because there were moments when I thought a good book might possibly emerge from the wreckage, I'm giving it 2 stars.

I reserve 1 star reviews for the books I just can't finish. One has to preserve one's standards.